Hinged lid carton



Sept. 19, 1967 A. w. REYNOLDS HINGED LID CARTON 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledOct. 1, 1965 INVENTOR Albert w. REYNOLDS v4 TTORNEYS p 1967v A. w.REYNOLDS 3,342,399

HINGE!) LID CARTON 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 1, 1965 IN VENTOR AlbertW. REYNOLDS ATTORNEYS I p 9, 1967 A. w. REYNOLDS HINGED LID CARTON 5Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 1, 1965 IN VE N TOR Albefl W. REYNOLDS #m 1&5;

TORNEYS United States Patent Ofifice 3,342,399 HINGEI) LID CARTON AlbertW. Reynolds, Montreal North, Quebec, Canada,

assignor to Lawson Lithographhig & Folding Box Company Limited,Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed Oct. 1, 1965, Ser. No. 492,002 3 Claims.(Cl. 229-23) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hinged-lid carton comprisingan inner article-carrying tray and an outer shell completely surroundingthe tray. The inner tray is attached to the outer shell by means of tabsprojecting from the bottom panel of the tray projecting outwardly pastthe side panels of the tray and engaging with corresponding slits in thelowermost edge of the side panels of the outer shell.

The present invention relates to a carton having a hinged lid and to themethod of constructing such a carton.

The carton of the present invention is particularly useful for thepackaging of cigarettes but is equally useful in the packaging of othercommodities where a disposable, economical crush resistant package isdesired.

Cigarette cartons or packages presently on the market have thedisadvantage that they afford very little protection to the cigarettesand it is often difficult to remove cigarettes from the packageespecially if the package is full. The disadvantages of such paperpackages have long been realized and various attempts have been made toprovide a package which affords more protection and accessibility to thecontents but generally such packages are in disfavour either because oftheir high cost of production and/or the difficulties involved infilling such packages with cigarettes.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a carton having ahinged lid portion to provide ready access to the contents of thecarton, and which is economical in manufacture and yet which providesprotection for the contents against accidental damage.

It is another object of the invention to provide a hinged lid carton forthe packaging and sale of cigarettes which is economical in manufactureand which is sturdy in construction and crush resistant to protect thecigarettes contained therein against accidental damage, and which mayquickly and cheaply be produced and filled by speedy industrial process.

It is a further object to provide a carton having a hinged lid which iseasily opened to provide complete access to the contents of the cartonand which may be closed again to protect the contents and to remain inthe closed position until purposefully opened.

It is an added object to provide a sturdy, economically manufactured,hinged lid carton for cigarettes from cardboard or the like sheetmaterial having an inner tray for holding cigarettes and an outer shellcomponent completely encasing the inner tray to retain the cigaretteswithin the tray and to prevent accidental damage thereto, and to amethod for manufacturing and filling such a carton.

It is another object of the present invention to provide 3,342,399Patented Sept. 19, 1967 a hinged lid carton basically comprising twocomponents, an inner article containing tray and an outer protectiveshell completely encasing said tray, both components being quickly andcheaply manufactured from identical or similar sheet material andassembled to provide a sturdy crush resistant package. The package ofthe invention may also be manufactured in any desired size, and due tothe construction design there is always guaranteed a perfectregistration between the tray component and the section of the shellcomponent which functions as the lid.

The invention will now be more specifically described with reference tothe accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 illustrates the package or carton of the invention inperspective View showing the lid portion in open position,

FIGURE 2 illustrates the completed carton in closed position,

FIGURE 3 illustrates in plan view a blank from which the inner traycomponent of the carton is made,

FIGURE 4 illustrates in plan view a blank from which the outer shellcomponent of the carton is made,

FIGURE 5 illustrates in perspective view the folding of the innercomponent of FIGURE 3 to form an article receiving tray,

FIGURE 6 illustrates in perspective view the outer shell component beingWrapped around the inner tray component which in this drawing containscigarettes,

FIGURE 7 illustrates the outer shell component encasing the innercomponent and showing the panels and flaps on the outer shell componentready to be folded to completely enclose the inner component,

FIGURE 8 is an alternative construction of the inner tray componentshown in perspective view,

FIGURE 9 illustrates a blank in plan view for making the alternativeinner tray component of FIGURE 8.

The carton of the invention, shown in open position in FIGURE 1 and inclosed position in FIGURE 2, comprises basically two components, aninner article containing component shown in the drawings at 2, and anouter shell component shown in the drawings at 4.

The blanks from which these two components 2 and 4 are made are shown inplan View in FIGURES 3 and 4.

The inner component 2 (see FIGURE 3) consists of a bottom portion 6having side panels 8, and front and rear panels 10 and 11 respectively.Each side panel 8 is provided with flaps 12 which are glued or otherwiseaffixed to the front and rear panels when the inner component is foldedto the tray configuration shown in FIGURE 5. In FIGURE 3 the brokenlines represent crease lines upon which the blank is folded to form thetray and the solid lines represent the lines upon which the blank issevered or cut. The bottom portion 6 of the inner component is providedwith tab portions 14 which project outwardly past the side panels 8 whenthe latter are in folded position to assist in maintaining the traywithin the outer shell component, as will also be explained in moredetail hereafter.

FIGURE 4 illustrates in plan view the blank from which the outer shellcomponent is made. The outer comduring assembly. Two glueing tabs 30 areprovided on rear panel 20 and two glueing tabs 31 are provided on frontpanel 28. As in FIGURE 3 the broken lines represent crease lines alongwhich the blank is folded and the solid lines represent lines alongwhich the blank is cut.

Cut-outs 30' and 31' in tabs 30 and 31, respectively, provide clearancefor properly forming the carton corners during assembly. The purpose ofcut-outs 56 in tabs 31 will be more fully explained later.

In the preparation of the carton illustrated in open position in FIGURE1 and closed position in FIGURE 2, an inner component blank shown inFIGURE 3 and an outer shell component blank shown in FIGURE 4 are cutfrom sheet material and the blanks creased or scored along the dottedlines to facilitate folding.

In FIGURE 5 the folding of the blank shown in FIG- URE 3 to form theinner tray component 2 is illustrated. After the inner tray blank is cutand creased for folding the two side panels 8 are folded along lines 32to an upright position and the four glueing flaps 12 are folded inwardlyalong lines 34, and front and rear panels 10 and 11, respectively, arefolded to an upright position along lines 35 and the glueing flaps 12are affixed to the front and rear panels to provide a tray component asshown in FIGURE 5. The flaps 12 may be glued to the panels 10 and 11 bythe application of a glue during assembly, or the flaps may be precoatedwith a heat and pressure curing adhesive during the blank stage tofacilitate assembly.

The articles which are to be packaged may then be insorted into theinner tray component as shown in FIG- URE 6.

The outer shell component 4, the blank of which is shown in FIGURE 4, isthen folded along the fold lines and wrapped completely around the innertray and the packaged articles, which may be cigarettes, in the mannershown in FIGURE 6, and flap 22 is attached (as by glue or adhesive) tothe inner surface of front panel 28 to partially enclose the inner trayas shown in FIGURE 7.

Side panels 24 (see FIGURE 4) are then folded along lines 38 to lie fiatagainst the side panels 8 of the inner tray, at which time tabs 14 willengage in slits 40 to secure inner tray 2 within shell 4. Flaps 30 arethen folded along lines 42 and afiixed to the outer surface of panels24. Panels 26 are then folded along lines 44 and aflixed to flaps 30 andpanels 24 to completely enclose tray 2. In a preferred construction bothsides of flaps 30 are precoated with a heat and pressure curingadhesive, and the application of heat and pressure to the outer surfaceof panels 24 will adhesively unite panels 26, flaps 30 and panels 24securely together.

Front panel 28 and side panels 24 and 26 and the intervening flaps 30are then completely severed along a longitudinal continuous line 46 (seeFIGURE 2) to divide the outer shell 4 into upper and lower sections 4'and 4", respectively, to enable the upper section 4' to hinge along line48 of panel (see FIGURE 4) to act as a cover or lid for the tray 2.Shell component 4 is severed around three sides, to enable the uppersection 4' to act as a hinged lid, to a depth suflicient only topenetrate the panels of shell 4. The panels of the inner tray 2 are notcut or scored in any way.

The section of the outer shell forming the lid 4 of the carton is hingedalong crease line 48 formed in panel 20, and this line 48 may be severedintermittently along its length as at 50 to facilitate the hingingaction.

The inner tray 2 is snugly positioned within shell 4 and is retainedtherein by tabs 14 engaging within slits 40. It is not usually necessaryotherwise to employ adhesive or other fixing means to hold tray 2 withinthe shell 4, but such means may be employed if required.

Front panel 10 of the inner tray blank shown in FIG- URE 3 may beprovided with a flap 52 to form a closing flap along the front edge ofthe carton as clearly shown in FIGURE 1.

The side edges of flap 52 are extended outwardly to form tab portions53, as shown in the figures. The outward extension of each tab 53 isapproximately equal to the sheet material thickness of the blank ofouter shell 4. The additional cut-out portions 56, formed on tabs 31,provides recesses 53 in the front corners of lid portion 4' (shown inFIGURE 1) when the carton is assembled. Tab portions 53 are adapted toextend into recesses 58, when the carton lid is in the closed position,and to provide a positive means for locking lid 4' in the closedposition. Due to the flexible nature of the blank sheet material, tabs53 will deflect and slip out of recesses 58, when lid 4' is opened, andwill snap back into recesses 58, when lid 4' is closed. Such a means forlocking lid 4' in a closed position will function with completeeffectiveness far beyond even the most extended service life of cartonscontaining cigarettes or like articles. It will be realized that othermeans for locking the lid in a closed position may be incorporatedwithout departing from the scope of this invention.

FIGURE 8 illustrates in perspective view an alternative construction 54of the inner tray component. In this alternate construction the tray isformed without a bottom portion and is cut from a blank as shown inFIGURE 9. After the blank is cut it is folded along the dotted lines andflap 12 adhesively secured to panel 11 to form the structure shown inFIGURE 8. The tray of FIGURE 8 is then filled with the articles to bepackaged and completely enclosed by the outer shell as previouslyrecited. Three side panels of the outer shell component 4 are thensevered to form a hinged lid carton. In this alternative execution innertray 54 may be adhesively secured within outer shell 4, or tab portions14 (as shown in FIGURE 3) may be formed on the lower edge of the blankand folded to engage in slits 40 in outer shell 4.

In the foregoing description specific procedural steps in themanufacture of the hinged lid carton have been recited, but it will beappreciated that other folding flap glueing sequences may be employedwithout departing from the scope of the invention. Moreover, whilecardboard is the most economical material from which the carton may beproduced, other sheet material may successfully be employed and otherflap securing methods, in addition to adhesives, may be utilized.

What I claim is:

1. A hinged lid carton comprising an outer shell component having topand bottom surfaces and front, rear and side panels, and an innerarticle carrying tray component positioned completely within the outershell, and having front, side, rear and bottom panels, said tray beinginterengaged with said shell by means of tabs integral with said bottompanel of said tray projecting outwardly past the side panels of saidtray, said tabs engaging with corresponding slits positioned along thelowermost edge of the side panels of the outer shell, with the front andside panels of the outer shell being severed longitudinally in acontinuous line to divide the outer shell into upper and lower portions,and a longitudinal line scored in the rear panel of the outer shellforming a hinge whereby the upper portion of the outer shell may beopened to provide access to the articles carried by the tray.

2. A hinged-lid carton comprising an inner articlecarrying tray havingfront, side, rear and bottom panels and an outer shell completelyenclosing said tray and having top and bottom panels and front, side andrear panels, tabs integral with said bottom panel of said trayprojecting outwardly past the side panels of said tray, said tabsengaging with corresponding slits positioned along the lowermost edge ofthe side panels of the outer shell, and with said shell being severedlongitudinally in a continuous line to divide the outer shell into upperand lower portions and permit hinging of said upper portion along a linelongitudinally positioned in the rear panel of the shell.

3. A carton according to claim 2 wherein the upper edge of the frontpanel of the inner tray is provided with a flap hingedly connectedthereto to close upon the articles 5 6 within the tray, the side edgesof said flap extending out- 2,082,677 6/ 1937 Belsinger 22923 wardly toform locking tab portions, said locking tab 2,619,276 11/1952 Gibbons229-45 portions adapted to engage in recesses formed in the upper2,768,777 10/ 1956 Barrington t a1, 229 45 X portion of said outer shellto provide a means for rele s- 2,839,236 7/1958 Dunning 229 45 ablylocking said upper portion adjacent said lower por- 5 2 337 339 5 1959 ill 229 45 X 3,015,430 1/ 1962 Bauer 22945 References Cited UNITED STATESPA TS JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

1,805,371 5/1931 Nolins 229-45 X DAVIS T. MOORHEAD, Examiner.

1,965,199 7/1934 McAleer 22923 10

1. A HINGED LID CARTON COMPRISING AN OUTER SHELL COMPONENT HAVING TOPAND BOTTOM SURFACES AND FRONT, REAR AND SIDE PANELS, AND AN INNERARTICLE CARRYING TRAP COMPONENT POSITIONED COMPLETELY WITHIN THE OUTERSHELL, AND HAVING FRONT, SIDE, REAR AND BOTTOM PANELS, SAID TRAY BEINGINTERENGAGED WITH SAID SHELL BY MEANS OF TABS INTEGRAL WITH SAID BOTTOMPANEL OF SAID TRAY PROJECTING OUTWARDLY PAST THE SIDE PANELS OF SAIDTRAY, SAID TABS ENGAGING WITH CORRESPONDING SLITS POSITIONED ALONG THELOWERMOST EDGE OF THE SIDE PANELS OF THE OUTER SHELL, WITH THE FRONT ANDSIDE